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Sons of Mogh
' |image= |series= |production=40510-487 |producer(s)= |story= |script= Ronald D. Moore |director= David Livingston |imdbref=tt0708641 |guests=Tony Todd as Kurn, Robert Doqui as Noggra, Dell Yount as Tilikia, D. Elliot Woods as Klingon Officer |previous_production=Return to Grace |next_production=Bar Association |episode=DS9 S04E014 |airdate= 12 February 1996 |previous_release=(DS9) Return to Grace (Overall) Dreadnought |next_release=(DS9) Bar Association (Overall) Death Wish |story_date(s)=49556.2 (2372) |previous_story=(DS9) Return to Grace (Overall) Meld |next_story=(DS9) Bar Association (Overall) Dreadnought }} =Summary= Worf's brother Kurn arrives unexpectedly and asks Worf to kill him. He explains that since Worf sided with the Federation against the Klingon Empire, Kurn and his family are outcasts on the homeworld. Having lost everything, he can only regain his honor through the Mauk-to'Vor, a death ritual which only Worf can perform. Worf reluctantly decides to carry out his brother's wish and fatally stabs Kurn, but Dax and Odo burst in just in time to transport Kurn to the Infirmary. Luckily, Kurn survives, albeit unhappily. Meanwhile, Sisko grows suspicious of Klingon "Military Exercises" witnessed by Kira and O'Brien outside Bajoran space and orders them to investigate. Later, Worf, hoping to give Kurn a purpose on the station, convinces Odo to make him a deputy on his security force. Kurn takes the job, and initially performs well. Meanwhile on the Defiant, Kira and O'Brien encounter a damaged Klingon ship in the area of the exercises, and the injured crew is forced to request a tow back to Deep Space Nine. Later Worf finds Kurn again in the Infirmary, and discovers that his brother allowed himself to be attacked, hoping to die this way. Odo refuses to work with a man carrying a death wish and fires Kurn. Miserable, Kurn says that his life is in Worf's hands. While investigating the explosion that disabled the Klingon ship, Worf realizes that it was laying a minefield of cloaked explosives to cut off the Bajoran system from the rest of the Federation — a precursor to war. In order to disable the mines, they need the coordinates. Worf and Kurn have their features and DNA signatures temporarily altered and make their way onto the disabled ship. They soon find the deployment plan for the mines, but a Klingon officer suddenly walks in on them. Kurn kills the intruder, which shocks Worf until Kurn reveals the Klingon had a knife and was preparing to kill him. But Kurn's act only sinks him deeper into depression as he realizes his dishonor is complete. With this in mind, Worf makes the ultimate sacrifice. He has Kurn's features altered once again and has his memory erased, allowing Kurn to start life over again with a new identity. Kurn has regained his place in Klingon society — but Worf has lost his only remaining link to that society forever. =Errors and Explanations= Nit Central # Cableface on Thursday, December 17, 1998 - 12:23 pm: Isn't it a bit ethnocentric to impose human rules and regulations on the time-hounoured ritual of Klingon ritual suicide? Hans Thielman on Thursday, December 17, 1998 - 3:20 pm: It may well be ethnocentric to impose human rules regarding Klingon ritual suicide if the ritual occurs on the Klingon homeworld. However, in this case, Worf was attempting to perform the ritual on a Bajoran space station, administered by Starfleet, where Klingon laws and customs do not apply. Omer on Saturday, December 19, 1998 - 3:30 am: So? isn't that like prohibiting them to practice their Religion?'' Chris Thomas on Saturday, December 19, 1998 - 8:12 pm:'' Following the Federation-run Bajoran station line, that would mean the Ferengi can't use their laws and customs there, which quite obviously they can, given Brunt's actions in the past. Cableface on Wednesday, December 23, 1998 - 1:50 pm: But who decided that they couldn't practice their rituals there? Who decided that these culture's honoured traditions "do not apply"?I just think it's being really ethnocentric. Mike Konczewski on Wednesday, December 23, 1998 - 3:12 pm: Cableface--yes it is ethnocentric. I think that was part of the point. It's like a similar situation in the 20th century. Some religious groups have gotten in trouble with local authorities because they still practice animal sacrifice (chickens and such). It seems barbaric to us, but it's part of their heritage. Omer on Thursday, December 24, 1998 - 4:50 am: wait, but there is a diffrence. If we say that we are set to protect others, then it's ok to, say, prevent a cult from abusing children. But Korn is obviously a sane adult ( well, sane for a Klingon, anyway). If you prevent him from his custums, that's against the freedom to practice one's religion. Murray Leeder on Thursday, December 24, 1998 - 11:34 am: I'd say, when in Rome… For instance, certain religious rituals involve marijuana, and some people have defended smuggling marijuana around on those grounds. But it remains a crime, no matter what the reason. This is something that could be used as a defense in the court system, but isn't going to stop anyone from being arrested.'' Anonymous on Friday, July 28, 2000 - 9:34 am:'' Exercise of civil rights is never unlimited, Omer. As the classic First Amendment case says, you have the right to free speech, but that doesn't entitle you to yell "Fire!" in a crowded theater. # Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Tuesday, August 29, 2000 - 11:13 pm: Worf's actions have brought dishonor to the House of Mogh and Kurn cannot live with the dishonor and wants Worf to kill him. What about Kurn's family? Will they continue to live under the dishonor or has Kurn already performed the Mauk-To'Vor ritual on them? Assuming he has a family of his own! # Kurn considers suicide, but says that it is considered dishonorable. Excuse me, but what about that Hegh'bat ritual that Worf wanted performed in Ethics? Wouldn't that be considered suicide? Frankly, that whole Mauk-To'Vor ritual sounds like assisted suicide to me. Rene - Digimon Board Moderator (Rcharbonneau) on Thursday, August 30, 2001 - 8:13 pm: I think Kurn talks about taking his own life by his own hands as being dishonorable. (But of course, if this is true, how are Klingons supposed to kill themselves when they are captured). # LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, November 21, 2002 - 11:19 pm: A Klingon’s house is named after the male head of the house. Duras’ father was named Ja’rod, as established in Sins of the Father (TNG), and since Ja’rod was deceased, that house was called the House of Duras. It continued to be called this, even after Duras’ death in the episode Reunion (TNG). Lursa and B’Etor even continued to be referred to as the "Duras sisters" thereafter until their deaths. But in this episode, Kurn tells Worf that it was said that if Gowron died, leadership of the Klingon High Council may have fallen to someone from the House of Mogh. Shouldn’t it be called the House of Worf? Or at least the House of Kurn? As stated elsewhere, some Klingon houses may retain the name of the founder as a tradition. # In the episode Genesis (TNG), I noted how the proud and traditional Worf slept on a cushioned mattress, even though Unification Part 1 (TNG) established that Klingons sleep on flat, hard, uncushioned surfaces. Either Worf needed to sleep on a cushion for a time as part of his recuperation from the injuries that he suffered in Ethics(TNG), or the creators simply forgot about this by Genesis. By this episode, they get it right, having Kurn complain that Worf put him on a cushioned bed. So why did Worf put him on a cushioned bed? It may not be possible to use the bed without the cushioned mattress. # Once Sisko puts his foot down, Worf feels he cannot perform the Mauk-to’Vor ceremony. Why doesn’t he simply request a brief vacation or leave of absence, go to some neutral moon or other territory, and kill his brother there? Sisko may not be willing to grant such a request. # Why does Kurn need Worf to kill him? Don’t the Klingons already have an established ritual for suicide, when a Klingon is dishonored, or otherwise unable to go on living, as depicted in Ethics (TNG) and Night Terrors (TNG)? (Of course, this would prevent this episode from occurring, since Kurn could simply commit suicide on his own.) Kurn considers Worf responsible for his dishonour, so Kurn feels that Worf should perform the ritual in order to put things right. # John A. Lang on Tuesday, November 18, 2003 - 6:37 pm: Why didn't they let Kurn die in battle? y'know..send him off to fight a battle somewhere & let him die with honor...? LUIGI NOVI on Wednesday, November 19, 2003 - 8:30 am: Because Gowron didn't want him to. He wanted to dishonor the House of Mogh. Wasn't that made clear in The Way of the Warrior and this ep? Category:Episodes Category:Deep Space Nine